Chapter 62

Chapter Sixty-Two

I take another deep breath before leaving my car and walking up to Kelly’s house. There's no sense in delaying it any longer. Besides, I’ve already taken too much time, and I’ll need to sell my excuse convincingly if I want to keep this situation from escalating.

I press the doorbell with shaky fingers, and within seconds, Thomas yanks the door open, standing before me with flaring nostrils, like an enraged bull facing down the matador who dared to provoke him.

“Thomas? What… are you doing here?” I play dumb because that’s precisely what Kelly told me to do in her texts.

I walk past him and hand the bottles of wine to Kelly. She gives me a brief, assessing glance but then nods slightly, indicating that I don’t look too out of place and that nothing seems amiss. I might be dressed a bit too provocatively for a casual visit with my best friend, but Kelly has a plausible excuse for that as well.

“Where the hell have you been? You are not dressed for a cozy evening at home! Cora, tell me what’s going on right now, or else!” he growls, and I know that if Kelly wasn’t standing next to me right now, watching him with a critical eye, I would have already caught one.

I swallow dryly but try not to let my nervousness show.

“I went to buy wine. Didn’t Kelly say anything? We were going to go out, but her babysitter canceled, so we decided to stay in. But not without wine… What are you doing here? Are you seriously spying on me?” I ask, trying to shift the focus back to him.

Although I am curious about what led him to show up here and create a scene like this…?

“Don’t turn this around on me! This is all complete bullshit! Where have you been, Cora? And don’t you dare lie to me!” he yells, stepping close and piercing me with a threatening look.

“Mom, are you okay?” suddenly comes the voice of Kelly’s oldest son, who looks back and forth between us all with a worried expression.

Thomas takes a deep breath, creating some distance between us as he turns away, likely trying to calm himself down.

“Yes. It’s all right, darling. Go back to your room,” Kelly replies to her son, sending him back upstairs with a friendly smile.

His skeptical look remains, but he is probably satisfied with his mother’s statement and goes back up the stairs to disappear into his room. We hear his door close.

“We’d better go and sort this out at home,” Thomas growls quietly, grabbing me by the arm so I can go with him.

“Cora?” Kelly interjects anxiously and gives me a questioning look, wondering if she should intervene.

I know what I’m in for. But with June at home, I don’t think I have to worry about him completely forgetting himself. So I give Kelly a reassuring nod and leave her house with my husband.

“I’ll see you at home, and I hope the drive helps you calm down a bit!” I admonish him with a raised eyebrow before getting into my car and driving off.

I drive ahead and see Thomas in the rear-view mirror, following close behind me as if he’s worried I might pull out just before he does. Are you kidding me?

When I get home, he slams the front door shut with a loud bang and is at my side in a few quick steps, grabbing me by the arms.

“Thomas! Stop it! June is home!” I hiss in a warning and look up.

But only then do I realize there’s no light on upstairs. My head jerks toward him, but his palm is already on my cheek, burning. Only his iron grip keeps me from falling to the floor. I let out a startled gasp before I grab the burning spot and look at him in horror.

“Thomas,” I whisper, stunned.

“June went to campus with Linda to preview some of her new classes tomorrow. She’ll stay the night there. That means we have all the time in the world to sort this out between us,” he murmurs in such a dark voice that it sends a fearful shiver down my spine.

“We will not talk about anything! Because I’m leaving you! That was… that was too much! And now let go of me before I call the police and they take you out of your own house!” I reply, not trying to stop my disappointment and the tears streaming down my cheeks.

This is not what I wanted. But I won’t let him hit me again! Ezra is right. I deserve better.

“What… what did you just say? YOU’RE LEAVING ME? FOR ANOTHER MAN, OR WHAT??” he yells at me in a rage before he lashes out again, only this time with the back of his hand, and slaps me right in the face again.

An exploding pain sweeps through my skull as first, his hand hits my cheek, and then my head hits the floor because Thomas has let go of me. I hit the tile floor, gasping for air as it is squeezed from my lungs.

“You think you can just leave me? ME?” his angry voice sounds close behind me, causing me to spin around and crawl backward on the ground away from him so I don’t get hit any harder.

“Thomas, please stop!” I beg him through my tears, hoping there is still enough empathy left for me somewhere deep inside him. Praying he won’t hit me again.

“You want me to stop? Good. Then tell me who’s fucking you, and I’ll stop and fuck him up instead!” he growls and then grabs me by the hair to pull me back up to a standing position.

I scream out in pain and struggle wildly to get him to let me go. It feels like he’s scalping me.

“TELL. ME. CORA!” he rumbles.

Bubbles of saliva speckle my face, and the tug on my hair gets tighter and tighter before he raises his hand threateningly, ready to strike again. I squint my eyes in panic because I can’t watch my husband turn into this monster again. Right now, I am defenselessly at his mercy and can do nothing but wait until he has finally had his revenge on me and realizes what he has done. I have to hold out because I can’t argue with him in this state. He’d only make me suffer more.

The next blow follows, and I immediately taste blood on my tongue. My lip is painfully split open, making the tears flow even more. But all the pain is nothing compared to the deep wound burning into my soul. Deep black edges are already lining them, enveloping them and not letting them free again.

My head is pounding, and I feel so dazed my field of vision becomes blurred. I briefly fear for my consciousness, but Thomas shakes me so violently and continues to scream in my face that I am quickly pulled out of the blackness again.

“Thomas… please stop! What will June think if she sees me like this tomorrow?” I try to talk some sense into him again.

“You’re threatening to tell our daughter what happened here?” he replies sharply and pulls me close to him again.

I flinch and press my eyelids together before shaking my head gently.

“No, because she’ll see for herself… Thomas, go. Don’t come back! If you leave now, I won’t tell her any of this. I’ll say I fell down the stairs, and you’re on a business trip.” I quickly rattle off my suggestion, afraid he might go completely berserk.

But surely he must realize that our marriage has no future after this and that he’ll be lucky if I don’t tell June…?

An angry scream escapes his throat before he brutally pushes me off him, causing me to land on the bottom step and bump my back. I scream out in pain and can’t stop the tears that flood my face. I hold the throbbing spot and don’t know how to get up because everything just hurts. He’s never beaten me this badly before.

“You dare to threaten me? Do you want to take my daughter away from me? My family?” he screams at the top of his lungs and is about to pounce on me again.

I squint my eyes in panic, put my arms protectively around my head, and pull my face to my chest so that he doesn’t hit the same spot again. But a rabid growl, followed by a loud clatter, makes me let my guard down to see what’s happening around me. Then, when I realize Ezra is here and has pounced on Thomas to protect me, my brain turns back on, and I struggle to get to my feet. I must break these two up before they kill each other.

“EZRA!” I scream hysterically and tug at his arm, which he uses to catch Thomas by the collar, already lashing out with his fist for the second blow.

Thomas already has a bloody nose.

“It’s him? He’s fucking you?” Thomas snarls and takes another swing.

But Ezra is quicker, thanks to his boxing experience, and easily dodges the punch before retaliating with one of his own.

“Ezra, please stop and just get him out of the house! I don’t want any more violence,” I try desperately to get him to let go of Thomas.

Blood is already spurting from his nose, covering the ground around them and sticking to Ezra’s ankles.

Breathing heavily, he pauses and looks over his shoulder at me before letting go of my husband’s collar, causing Thomas to hit the ground with a thud.

“You heard her. Get out and don’t show your face again, or I swear you’ll suffer twice as much pain as she did!” Ezra growls so darkly and ominously that I flinch away from him and look back and forth between the two of them with bated breath.

Thomas grinds his jaw vigorously and wipes his bloody nose. He has to realize that he has lost here and now.

“Not a word to June!” he threatens me again with a raised index finger, which makes me wince slightly as I nod gently so that he finally disappears.

Running backward, Thomas retreats before disappearing through the front door. As the door slams shut, I slump powerlessly and can no longer hold back the sobs that squeeze out of my throat.

“I’m here. It’s going to be okay, Beauty,” Ezra murmurs softly, catching me and then pulling me tightly against his chest and simply cradling me like a small child to give me strength and comfort.

I let all my feelings out and cry myself free from everything I’ve experienced until I have no tears left. I would like to ask Ezra many questions, but I am simply too weak and exhausted. My voice fails, and my head is empty . I am empty…